ECOLOGIA E EVOLUÇÃO APLICADAS AO ESTUDO DO REGISTRO ARQUEOLÓGICO

Abstract

Ecology and Evolution Applied to the Archaeological Record This essay deals not only with the viability, but also with the necessity, of interdisciplinary work, especially between archaeology and biological sci- ences, while conducting archaeological research. In as much as the con- cepts of Evolutionary Archaeology and Evolutionary Ecology operate towards the goal of consolidating a conceptual framework, this paper pre- sents the different theoretical contributions of several researchers, and ex- plains the fundamental concepts relating to evolution, which constitute, together with ecology, the core of the discussions presented here. Since evolutionary archaeology is concerned primarily with the explanation of changes observed in the archaeological record, the importance of this syn- thesis is revealed in the clarification and critical analysis of evolutionary con- cepts, commonly misinterpreted or misapplied by archaeologists in their explanations. Moreover, while a predictive science, ecology is concerned with the adaptive value of behaviour under the action of natural selection, and in this context it is seen as deviating, in its theoretical and methodologi- cal framework from evolution. Nevertheless, evolution and ecology reconcile aspects of models such as optimal foraging, as widely applied to studies of past human populations.